United Nations chief lashes out at countries violating international law

The United Nations chief lashed out Thursday (January 15, 2026) at countries that violate international law and called the concentration of power and wealth by the world’s richest 1% “morally indefensible.”

At the start of his final year at the helm of the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. General Assembly that its 193 member nations are facing “a world marked by self-defeating geopolitical divides, brazen violations of international law, and wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid.”

All these forces are shaking the foundations of global cooperation at a time when it is needed most, said Mr. Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on December 31.

“Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch,” the secretary-general said. “I can assure you: We will not give up.”

Mr. Guterres has repeatedly criticised Russia for violating the U.N. Charter, which requires that every country respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, by invading Ukraine in February 2022. He also has criticised the United States for its military operation in Venezuela to capture President Nicolás Maduro and its deadly attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that the U.S. says are carrying drugs.

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“When leaders run roughshod over international law — when they pick and choose which rules to follow — they are not only undermining global order, they are setting a perilous precedent,” Mr. Guterres said.

The U.N. chief said people around the world are watching the erosion of international law and the consequences of impunity. He pointed to “the illegal use and threat of force; attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers and U.N. personnel; unconstitutional changes of government; the trampling of human rights; the silencing of dissent; the plundering of resources.”

He also criticised countries that don’t pay their U.N. dues on time — another jab at the Trump administration, which did not pay its mandatory dues to the U.N.’s budgets in 2025.

Mr. Guterres warned of the dangers of a concentration of power and wealth in the world’s richest 1%, who hold 43% of global financial assets.

“Increasingly, we see a world where the ultra-wealthiest and the companies they control are calling the shots like never before — wielding outsized influence over economies, information and even the rules that govern us all,” he said.